Gaze-based object placement within a virtual reality environment

A method performed by a head mounted display (HMD) device that supports rendering of a virtual reality environment that excludes real world objects and includes existing virtual objects, comprising: obtaining sensor data describing a real world physical environment adjoining a user of the HMD device; using the sensor data, reconstructing a geometry of the real world physical environment; tracking the user's head and gaze in the real world physical environment using the reconstructed geometry to determine a field of view and view position within the virtual reality environment; projecting a gaze ray outward from the view position; identifying a point at which the projected gaze ray intersects with the virtual reality environment; operating the HMD device to place a virtual object at the identified point; in response to the placed virtual object being clipped along an edge of the field of view, rotating the projected gaze ray independent of movement and positioning of the user's head, eyes, or body, such that the rotating of the projected gaze ray is performed by the HMD device irrespective of the user's actions; locating a point at which the rotated gaze ray intersects with the virtual reality environment; and repositioning the virtual object at the located point for the rotated gaze ray so that the virtual object is no longer clipped along the edge of the field of view.

A head mounted display (HMD) device operable by a user in a physical environment, comprising: one or more processors; a display for rendering a virtual reality environment to the user, a field of view of the rendered virtual reality environment being variable depending at least in part on a pose of the user's head in the physical environment; a sensor package; and one or more memory devices storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, perform a method comprising the steps of: generating surface reconstruction data for at least a portion of the physical environment using the sensor package, dynamically tracking a view position of the user for the virtual reality environment using the surface reconstruction data, locating a point at which a gaze ray projected from the view position along the user's gaze direction intersects with the virtual reality environment within a current field of view, operating the HMD device to place a virtual object at the located point; in response to the placed virtual object being clipped along an edge of the field of view, rotating the projected gaze ray independent of movement and positioning of the user's head, eyes, or body, such that the rotating of the projected gaze ray is performed by the HMD device irrespective of the user's actions; locating a point at which the rotated gaze ray intersects with the virtual reality environment; and repositioning the virtual object at the located point for the rotated gaze ray so that the virtual object is no longer clipped along the edge of the field of view.

One or more hardware-based computer readable memories not consisting of propagated signals storing computer-executable instructions for rendering a virtual reality environment within a variable field of view of a head mounted display (HMD) device located in a real world environment, the instructions when executed by one or more processors disposed in the HMD device cause the HMD device to: use data from a sensor package incorporated into the HMD device to a) dynamically generate a surface reconstruction model of the real world environment and b) generate a gaze ray that is projected from a view position of a user of the HMD device within the virtual reality environment using the surface reconstruction model of the real world environment; determine a field of view of the virtual reality environment using the surface reconstruction model; receive an input to the HMD device from the user; place a virtual object within the field of view at a point at which the gaze ray intersects with the virtual reality environment in response to the received user input; in response to the virtual object being clipped along an edge of the field of view within the virtual reality environment, rotate the virtual object independent of movement and positioning of the user's head, eyes, or body, such that the rotation of the projected gaze ray is performed by the HMD device irrespective of the user's actions; locate a point at which the rotated gaze ray intersects with the virtual reality environment; and reposition the virtual object at the located point for the rotated gaze ray so that the virtual object is no longer clipped along the edge of the field of view.